Originally started in 2007, slow german is a podcast series that’s perfect for intermediate learners of German. It covers world news, German grammar and common expressions at a slowed down pace that helps you learn new words and phrases easily.
The podcast has a lot to offer, including grammar dialogues and lessons, expressions lessons, grammar quizzes and a huge grammar catalog. It’s definitely worth a listen.
Grammar Dialogues
Grammar dialogues are a great way to learn new words and expressions. They don’t resemble traditional grammar lessons, and they’re often presented in a natural context.
In this podcast, native German speakers Judith and Chuck explain the cultural and grammatical aspects of the language clearly and concisely. They also offer spaced repetition flashcards and PDF lesson notes for a subscription fee.
Slow German is a popular series of conversations in German for beginning and intermediate learners. It is a perfect resource for busy individuals who are looking to improve their language skills. Each episode is around five minutes long and includes a transcript.
Grammar Lessons
While some podcasts can be frustrating if you’re not a native speaker, these slow-paced lessons are perfect for beginners and intermediate learners. They feature authentic German pronunciation and easy to follow transcripts, so you can listen without the fear of not understanding what’s being said.
Learn by Coffee Break is a podcast from the Radio Lingua network. Their language lessons are more structured than Slow German’s, but they still offer a fun, engaging way to improve your German.
Each episode takes a topic or question and breaks it down into bite-size lessons. The dialogues are generally about 20 minutes long and include both a grammar lesson and vocabulary explanations in English, as well as helpful tips on how to use German.
Expressions Dialogues
In the spirit of the competition, I’d like to take a moment to congratulate the folks at News in Slow German on a well-crafted, and if I’m being honest, entertaining podcast that I have enjoyed from start to finish. The content is well-paced and informative. The podcast is free to download, but there’s a small subscription fee for access to spaced repetition flashcards, PDF lesson notes and a community forum that allows you to get in on the discussion with other like-minded learners!
The site also features a large collection of etymologically themed articles, including the most relevant ones for a given topic. The site is a bit confusing at times but, on the whole, I found it quite useful as a reference source of information.
Expressions Lessons
Expressions lessons are a great way to build vocabulary and understanding in German. They focus on natural language usage and allow you to practice using new words in real life scenarios.
These podcasts come with a transcript for each episode so you can listen to them in the comfort of your own home or on the go. They also include interactive captions and contextual definitions that make learning German even easier.
These episodes are great for intermediate learners and a good option for those who want to keep up their listening skills in between German courses. The current events stories are fun and interesting and they offer a variety of grammar and expressions lessons.
Grammar Quizzes
Grammar quizzes in slow german may not be the most exciting part of the show, but they’re still very useful. Unlike the dialogues, these grammar lessons don’t have audio but instead a written explanation of how the grammar point is used, along with examples.
This podcast is great for intermediate learners and the slowed-down audio makes it easier to understand what they’re saying. It’s free to download and a premium version offers grammar and vocabulary tutorials, PDF guides, fairy tales, and more.
News in Slow German broadcasts world news and slows it down to make it digestible for language learners. They also offer a huge grammar catalog that’s ideal for anyone with an intermediate level of German.
Grammar Catalog
If you’re a fan of the News in Slow German podcast, you’ll be happy to know that they have a huge grammar catalog. They’ve been releasing new episodes every week for years, and the catalog features grammar lessons, quizzes and other learning tools on all sorts of interesting topics.
The website also has a number of other helpful resources. For example, it has a page displaying overviews of the various grammar and syntactical rules. There’s also a page with interactive exercises sorted by grammar categories, which is pretty cool. There’s a vocab list and links to flashcards as well. It’s a great resource that can help you improve your German in the long run.